Once Upon A Time
by Lynyrd Lionheart
Summary: Sequel" to my one shot "Okay". Seventy years after Twilight, Bella reflects on her children, her husband, and the boy who broke her heart all those years ago. Be warned, this is not B/E, though it does include some mentions of it.


_**A/N: So I decided that I wanted to write a sequel of sorts to my one-shot "Okay" that showed Bella as an old woman, and how her life had went. This is what resulted.**_

_**Once Upon A Time**_

_Once upon a time, there lived a princess. She wasn't beautiful, not like you'd expect a princess to be. But that didn't matter to the Prince. The Prince was good, and handsome, and everything that a prince should be, and he loved the Princess, even though she wasn't as beautiful as his sisters._

_ But the Prince had a dark and terrible secret, a secret that the Princess discovered. She loved him, despite this dark and terrible secret. As such things do, the secret resulted in the Princess being hurt. She was kidnapped by a Dark Sorcerer who shared the same dark and terrible secret as the Prince. The Prince was nearly too late to save the Princess, but he arrived just in time to save her. The Dark Sorcerer was destroyed, and it seemed to the Princess that she was to get her happily ever after._

_ But the dark and terrible secret was not going to let this happen. On the Princess' eighteenth birthday, it once again came between the Princess and her Prince. This time, however, it was not a Dark Sorcerer that tried to hurt the Princess, but rather the Prince's own brother. The nature of the secret was such that those who shared it lost control of themselves under certain conditions. Such a situation occurred on the Princess' birthday, and because of it the Prince left the Princess' side, determined to never return._

_ A year went by for the heartbroken Princess. She was being courted by a handsome and loyal knight of the court, but the Princess, despite her best efforts, could not love the knight. Rather than staying to break both their hearts, the Princess chose to leave her kingdom and travel, hoping to find a way to heal the hole the Prince had left behind. _

_ Four years after the Prince had left, and three years after the Princess had left her kingdom, she once again met the Prince and his family. The Prince whisked the Princess onto the dance floor of a ball, and for a moment the Princess felt as if she were home._

_ Then she remembered the four long years she had without him, and she realized that, while she would always love the Prince, she had changed too much to go back to the carefree girl he had once loved. The Princess said good-bye to the Prince._

_ The Princess never saw the Prince again, but she met a handsome nobleman who was kind and could make her laugh. She never felt the overwhelming passion for him that she had felt for the Prince, but the affection she felt for the nobleman grew into a love that was as strong and steady as an oak tree. Together they had three beautiful children- a boy and two girls._

_ The Princess never forgot her Prince, but she could look back on the memories of their time together with fondness, and she lived out her days happily with her husband and children, and their children, despite the scars still left by the Prince's absence._

"Why do you always tell that sad fairytale?"

I looked up from the eager eyes of my five grandchildren, to see the brown eyes, eyes so like my own, of my eldest daughter, Caitlin.

"It's not sad, Mommy," argued Whitney, the eldest of the five children at ten years. "It's bittersweet."

I smiled at Whitney. She had once asked me the exact same question as her mother just had, and that had been my answer.

"I'm sure," Caitlin replied, her voice sceptical. "Come on young ones, it's time for bed. Go wash your hands and brush your teeth."

The children got up and, pushing and shoving each other all the way, moved towards the bathroom. The youngest, two year old Adam, stumbled clumsily after the elder children, determined to do everything the older children did.

I smiled fondly. Adam had the same stubbornness that ran rampant in the Swan family.

"I can remember you telling that to me, before I went to bed," Caitlin said, coming to sit next to me. "I could never be sure which was sadder- the end, or the look in your eyes when you told it. I remember asking you once if the Princess ever regretted turning her Prince away."

"What did I say?" I asked, knowing full well what the answer would be. I was seventy-seven, but my memory was as strong as ever, and I could recall the scene as well as I could recall my wedding day, or the day I told Edward good-bye for the last time.

"You said that she was sad, but she was okay with it. Not really an answer," Caitlin eyed me uncertainly, then continued. "You loved daddy, I know you did."

"I did," I agreed. "With a love as strong and steady as an oak tree."

"I'm going to ask you again Mama… and I'd really like you to answer this time. Did the Princess ever regret saying good-bye to the Prince?"

I looked out the window. It was snowing, and I smiled at the thought of a white Christmas. I felt my eyes go misty, as I realized that this would be my first Christmas without Alexander in over fifty years.

"It's hard, isn't it?" Caitlin asked softly. "There are still times I can't believe he's gone."

"It is," I agreed. I closed my eyes to fight back the tears. When I was sure I was in control of my function, I looked at Caitlin. While she had my eyes, the rest of her, from her black hair to her high, regal cheek bones was her father. I nodded to myself, making the decision to speak truthfully on matter that I hadn't truly spoken about since that day decades ago when I left Edward on a bar dance floor.

"There were some days she regretted it so much she could hardly breathe," I said to Caitlin. "Some days, she would waken from dreams that seemed so real, dreams that he held her and kissed her in, and when realized they weren't real, she almost couldn't bare to go on from the regrets."

I could see Caitlin's throat work, and her eyes, already damp from thinking of her father, spilled over.

"How did you go on?" she whispered, dropping the pretence of the fairytale.

"Your father. He knew everything… well, almost everything. He reminded me that I had a reason to keep going. I didn't have my Prince, Caitlin, but I had your father, and I had you kids," I grasped Caitlin's hand tightly. "I wouldn't give you, Britt, or Charlie up for anything. I wouldn't give the fifty years with your father up for anything. Some days it hurt so much I couldn't breathe, but on those days your father would breathe for both of us. I loved Edward with a passion I thought I would never feel, but I loved your father with a depth and strength that went beyond passion. We were partners, and we were friends. Edward and I were never friends, that was never possible for us."

"What was he like?"

Caitlin and I stayed up talking late into the night. I told her everything about Edward and his family, everything except the fact that they were vampires. That secret I would take to the grave with me. Caitlin must have sensed that, for not once did she ask me what the dark and terrible secret my Prince had held that had driven him away.

That night, I dreamt about Edward for the first time in years. I was seventeen and carefree again, and he loved me like no other. He held me and he kissed me.

But when I awoke from the dream, I didn't look around for Edward. Instead, I laid my hand on Alexander's side of the bed. It had been vacant for eight months, but I hadn't been able to touch it. Too many years sleeping with another person had taught me to remain to one side.

"I love you," I whispered, thinking of my husband's blue eyes and handsome features. He had remained handsome, even up until the night he died, his diabetes finally catching up with him after thirty years of fighting it.

I took the children out that afternoon, something telling me to go to the park across the street from the little yellow house that I had lived in, and raised my children in. The reason for the feeling was revealed when I saw the man sitting on a bench.

It was a shock to see him. He hadn't changed in fifty years, just as he had told me he wouldn't. Just as I knew he wouldn't.

It was a shock to see it first hand.

"You run along and play, and make sure that you include Adam," I told the youngsters. Whitney, taking her role as eldest very seriously, took Adam's hand in his own, and led the group off to make snowmen.

"Bella," Edward murmured as I sat next to him. "You're as beautiful as ever."

I laughed and the absurdity of the statement.

"I'm seventy-seven, Edward. Hardly a Miss America Competitor. You haven't changed. I don't know why I'd thought you would."

"You'll always be beautiful to me," Edward replied. "Your grandchildren?"

"Yes. Whitney, Jonathan, Samantha, Tamara, and Adam. What are you doing here?"

"I…I wanted to see you one last time," Edward replied softly. "Alice had a vision. Does your family know?"

"No," I replied simply, knowing what he spoke of. "I didn't want our last days together to be sad. Does it happen soon?"

Edward looked as if he were unsure on if he should answer or not.

"My heart is failing, there's nothing more they can do, Edward. I've known this for three months now. I've lasted longer than I should have. I just want to know if I last until Christmas. I don't want them to mourn me over Christmas."

"Alice thinks it's after Christmas, but before the New Year," his eyes were sad. "I'm so sor-"

"Don't you dare apologize for something you have no control over, Edward. I'm old. When you get old, your heart fails," I smiled sadly. "It's how the normal, happy human life goes."

"If I had been more stubborn fifty years ago, if I had convinced you-"

I laid my hand over his, and cut him off.

"I had changed, Edward. I grew up. I loved you then, I still love you even now, but I was no longer in love with you. If I had been, then I wouldn't have been able to fall in love with Alexander as I did."

"You really love him?" Edward asked me, his eyes both happy and sad.

"I did. He was both friend and lover to me. We had three beautiful children. He died eight months ago."

"I… Alice saw it. I was at the funeral, with Carlisle."

"Oh," I was silent for a moment, taking that in. "You should have come and spoken to me. I would have liked to have seen Carlisle again."

"I… we would have, but you looked so sad, and I," Edward clammed up, and I gave another husky laugh.

"You didn't want to re-open old wounds when I had such new ones? Perhaps it didn't seem like long to you, Edward, but it's been fifty years for me. I can look back on our time together fondly now."

Edward closed his eyes, and I felt a pang for causing him such pain.

"Promise me something, Edward," I murmured.

"Anything," he replied, looking at me with the same look and emotion that had been in his gaze when I was seventeen.

"Try to find someone to love you. Someone who can be both friend and lover to you. That's the kind of love that will last for all eternity," I cupped his face in my old, withered hands. "Let me go, and love. If I get to heaven and find that you followed me, I'll never forgive you… and don't you dare say that you wouldn't make it to heaven. I know you would, and at seventy-seven, I know a lot more than a seventeen year old."

"I'm far older than seventeen," Edward muttered.

"Perhaps… but in so many ways you're still seventeen, Edward. Trust an old woman's wisdom."

"I'll try… but God, Bella. I love you."

"And I love you," I looked at the children when I heard Tamara yell for me to come admire the snowmen. "I'm glad I got to see you one last time, Edward."

He helped me to my feet and handed me my cane, then kissed my forehead and looked at me with eyes filled with pain.

"Remember your promise, Edward. Love again, just like I loved Alexander."

For the third and final time, I said good-bye to the first love of my life, walking towards the grandchildren that would carry on the legacy of my second, and strongest, love.

-*-

It was the night of December twenty-eighth. I had just finished penning the final of three letters I had written, one for each of my children, when I began to feel the pain.

It was time.

Sealing the final envelope, I slowly made my way to my bed and crawled under the covers, wincing at the pain. I closed my eyes, and first pictured Edward in my mind. I smiled despite the pain, and said good-bye to the boy I had once loved.

Then I pictured my beloved Alexander, and the pain seemed to fade as I thought fondly on seeing him again shortly.

I was sorry for the grief my children would face. But they would face it, and they would get through it, just I had gotten through the loss of Edward, the loss of my parents, and finally, and most painfully, the loss of Alexander.

I had said my good-byes in my letters.

There was seventy years between me and my seventeen year old self- the self that had wished so desperately for immortality.

I had found my immortality.

I would survive in my children.

I would survive in my grandchildren.

And I was okay with that.

_**A.N2: Before anyone hangs me- I do believe that Edward and Bella felt true love for each other. I also believe that if Edward hadn't thought Bella was dead, he would've gone to Forks soon anyways. This story is based on the idea that he **_**never**_** came back, and so Bella found a new love. I think that if Edward had never returned, this is what would have eventually happened. I hope you enjoy, and I do love reviews. Now, on to continue chapter fourteen of **_**God Love Her**_**… or maybe go to bed.**_


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